“I think it’s natural for people to care and think about what everybody says,” the Arizona Cardinals rookie quarterback told USA TODAY Sports during a training camp visit. “But I really don’t care. I’ve been under the microscope for a long time now. It is what it is. I’ve learned to control that, to go out and shut people up with my play.

“That’s all I really care about: How well I play. Obviously, if I don’t play well, people are going to talk bad about me and the team. But who cares?”

Besides, whatever heat may exist with the noise on the outside may pale when compared to the mercury enveloping the nuts-and-bolts essentials of football at the highest level.

Murray, 22, has a rocket arm, sweet feet and uncanny instincts. That’s a winning combination, a key reason why the former Oklahoma star won the Heisman Trophy and was drafted as the No. 1 pick overall. Yet when I visited with him, I was most interested to get a sense of his mentality — which will be put to another grueling test while on the NFL learning curve during a marathon season.

No, there are no final answers from a 10-minute interview. Just first impressions. He told me about the impact of his father, Kevin, a budding quarterback star at Texas A&M in the 1980s before being derailed by injury and who is now a preeminent tutor for quarterbacks in the Dallas-Fort Worth Metroplex.

Kyler mentioned mindset first, then mechanics, when talking about his dad’s influence.

“We sort of have that telepathy, a telekinesis type of deal,” he said.

Oh, that’s good. No wonder he comes off like an old soul.

Yet this is just the beginning. Murray played in three preseason games and didn’t lead his offense to a single touchdown. It may be more revealing, though, that he didn’t commit a single turnover, either.

Still, the exhibition snaps — when Murray got a taste of the faster players he’ll face on defense and, well, why his offensive line raises doubt as one of the league’s most suspect units — came with disclaimers that they’re saving the real stuff for the real season.

“The offense won’t be vanilla,” Murray promises.

We’ll see. The real games begin next weekend, when the Cardinals open against the Detroit Lions at State Farm Stadium — the same place where in 2011 Cam Newton passed for an NFL rookie-record 422 yards in his first start. It won’t merely be Murray’s debut. Rookie coach Kliff Kingsbury will supposedly unveil some of the layers to his college-styled offense that were kept under wraps in preseason.

Like Murray, Kingsbury labeled the summer version of the offense as “vanilla,” which may illustrate that they are on the same path, maybe headed to Baskin-Robbins and 31 flavors.

“We feel good about how we’re going to gameplan,” Kingsbury told USA TODAY Sports. Kingsbury was an NFL backup quarterback for a few years but once coached NFL MVP Patrick Mahomes — a big reason why the Cardinals are betting on a coach who has yet to call a single play in a real NFL game.

“There may be things that don’t work,” Kingsbury added. “If there are, we’ll adjust and move forward. It’s going to be a learning process throughout the season.”

You can believe that defensive coordinators around the NFL are eager, too, to see what the Cardinals roll with in Week 1, which will fuel counter-attacks to stuff it.

That’s another reason why Murray will need to hang tight with his steely resolve. Not only are the expectations through the roof at State Farm Stadium — let’s face it, after Sam Bradford and Josh Rosen last year, Big Red fans need the jolt of excitement — but Murray is carrying so much weight to make the mystery that is Kingsbury’s offense work.

How well Murray handles the associated growing pains will be a key X-factor for NFL 100.

Sure, it’s always on the quarterback to drive the offense. And like any young quarterback, the Cardinals need to relieve some of the pressure on Murray. A consistent rushing attack would help, which means that as good as David Johnson is, he’ll need the holes provided by the men up front. And the defense now coordinated by Vance Joseph, with questions about a battered secondary, can do much by keeping the games from turning into weekly shootouts.

But much will hinge on the spread scheme Kingsbury is cooking up, built on shotgun snaps. If the system isn’t solid enough to block the blitzes that are surely coming, it’s going to be a much longer season for Murray. Here’s to hoping he’s not the next young quarterback to have his confidence served up on a silver platter while trying to navigate the NFL learning curve.

Kingsbury said he had a discussion with Murray about his psyche as they headed into the preseason games knowing how close they would keep it to the vest. It sounds like the least of the coach’s worries.

“You either have it or you don’t,” Kingsbury said. “His whole life, he’s been the best at everything he’s tried. There will be adversity. But he has that competitive attitude. He doesn’t get fazed by much. I don’t expect that to change.”

A couple of Murray’s new teammates were much more guarded in their optimism than their rookie coach. Veteran receiver Larry Fitzgerald — who counts Murray as the 20th starting quarterback he’s had in 16 seasons in Arizona — is ebullient in his praise for Murray’s football IQ. Yet, he also contends that it is critical that Murray not attempt to carry more than his own load while staring at expectations.

“He doesn’t have to do it all,” Fitzgerald said. “He just needs to know that he has teammates to support him, to help him every single step of the way.”

Like Brett Hundley, the fifth-year pro and quintessential “Backup to the Stars.” Before Murray, Hundley backed up Russell Wilson and Aaron Rodgers. He has a sense of the rookie treatment, if you will, that awaits Murray.

“I understand the ups and downs that you’re naturally going to have throughout this season,” Hundley told USA TODAY Sports. “Especially the mental aspect of it, and what’s going to be asked of him — especially here. The biggest thing, especially when you’re the No. 1 pick, there’s so much that comes with it. I’m here to help him make sure that it doesn’t affect him, even if there’s a bad game or a good game. And success can be harder to handle than failure. That’s something you’ve got to learn.”

Murray will take it. And he has a formula for dealing with it. Like easy and mellow.

“You’re not going to win every day,” he said. “There are going to be days when you lose. It’s a matter of how you respond. I try to keep a level head. Not too high, not too low. At the same time, I understand that I want to be the best. Nothing’s really changed.”